A Journey Through Fitness

I’m not the fittest. I’m not ripped. I’m not really strong, or particularly fast. In fact, I look pretty average. But that is exactly what makes me a good coach. Hear me out…

I started off as below average. I was a chubby kid. Never played organized sports. I was lazy, and I liked to eat lots of irresistibly delicious foods. Early in my 20’s I found myself in a desk job and had gained ANOTHER 10lbs. I was at my heaviest, weighing 162lbs and wearing a size 14. My cholesterol was over 200. I felt heavy walking around. One day I looked at my legs squeezed into a pair of jeans and thought, ENOUGH!

My journey through fitness started with a transformation, dropping 60 lbs of fat and gaining 20lbs of muscle. Each time I reached a goal, I felt obligated to set even bigger goals. I raced triathlons, I fought in Muay Thai, I taught Aerial Arts.

With those experiences came challenges. I faced serious injury, surgery and setbacks. I know what pain feels like. Cultivating mental toughness has taught me that not only can I heal from physical pain, but that I can cope with anything life throws at me …if I stay focused.

It wasn’t until I found CrossFit that I have become the strongest and fittest I’ve been, and the most challenged. Every day in the gym presents new gifts as life lessons that can be applied to life outside the gym.

So can I back squat 400lbs? No. Can I run a 5 minute mile? Nope. But I understand hard work and consistency. Every damn day I show up to the gym and put forth my best effort. These ingredients are the key to understanding yourself and the world around you. I will keep pushing forward to be better, to do more, to progress towards the unknown in my fitness journey.

But I also understand intimately the voice inside that tells you that you’ll never reach your goals and that you should just give up. And the desire to do nothing when feeling tired. I understand giving into temptations despite knowing what’s best for me.

I’ve had to create a method that works for me to instill discipline into my daily routine. It’s the voice that says, “Get up you lazy shit, and get your ass to the gym. You’ll feel better after, I promise.” It’s trusting a process, whether I feel motivated to stay on the path or not. This allows me to continually progress towards my goals, despite the inevitable road bumps, hills, and mountains I must go over in life.

So while my fitness level has progressed from far below average to wherever I’m at now, I’ve had to earn every bit of fitness that I now possess. Nothing comes “natural” to me, especially as a slow adapter. I’ve had to break down everything and build myself up from the bottom. Do you think someone like that can help YOU break down challenges into smaller, more manageable bite-sized chunks? You bet.

Have you hit a plateau or a roadblock in the gym? Are you not getting the results you wanted? Are you just getting frustrated with the same old routine? Good. Use those experiences as a springboard into your next level of learning, and into the process of progressing.

It’s not about exercise and diet, getting abs and looking good in a bathing suit. It’s about your mentality. Once you decide to embrace the hard stuff life throws at you, you are now on the honest path to becoming unstoppable.